Illustrator Spotlight

12/03/2014

Are you getting ready for winter? Let Modern Graphic History Library help you prepare with some Perfection Oil Heaters by Norman Rockwell.

Saturday Evening Post, September 15, 1917

While Norman Rockwell is best known for his covers for the Saturday Evening Post, he also illustrated advertisements. After joining the Art Students League in New York, Rockwell and his art colleagues had intended to never "prostitute their art" and only created fine art and magazine art. That promise was broken in 1914, when Rockwell illustrated his first advertisement for Heinz Baked Beans.

Saturday Evening Post, November 17, 1917

As Rockwell's covers gained popularity, advertisers sought the artist to illustrate their products. A Saturday Evening Post cover earned Rockwell $300, while an advertisement earned him up to $1000.

Saturday Evening Post, November 30, 1918

While Rockwell did create advertising art, he never considered it equivalent to the art he created for Saturday Evening Post covers. He believed those covers had a "creative integrity." He accepted the fact that the advertisement artwork was created for the money.

Saturday Evening Post, December 15, 1917

Rockwell illustrated the Perfection Heaters from 1917-1918. Some of the work is signed ; the unsigned artwork is most likely covered up by ad copy and logos.

Stay warm this winter -- perhaps these Rockwell heater ads will help.

Credits

All images are from the Walt Reed Illustration Archive.

Information about Norman Rockwell was from:

Solomon, Deborah. American Mirror: The Life And Art Of Norman Rockwell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013.

11/18/2014

Russian-American painter and illustrator Constantin Alajalov would have been 114 years old today. He was a mural painter, a book illustrator and a cover illustrator for major magazines including Vanity Fair and Fortune. He is best known for his cartoon-style covers of New Yorker and Saturday Evening Post.

Saturday Evening Post, April 8, 1950

Alajalov created over 70 covers for the New Yorker; his first cover was in 1926. Nineteen years later, his first Saturday Evening Post cover debuted. Both the New Yorker and Saturday Evening Post required that their cover artists agree not to illustrate for both magazines at the same time. Alajalov is the only artist who ever illustrated for both at the same time. The details on why an exception was made for Alajalov is unknown.

New Yorker, March 7, 1942

Alajalov was born in Rostov, Russia. He was studying at the University of Petrograd (St. Petersburg) when his studies were interrupted by the Russian Revolution. To survive, he joined a group of artists who painted Communist propaganda posters and murals supporting the revolution. Alajalov later moved to Persia and served as a court painter for the Khan, until the Khan was killed by a political rival.

New Yorker, January 10, 1931

At age 23, the artist emigrated to America. He found a job painting murals at a restaurant owned by a Russian countess. Soon after, his artwork began to be noticed. Three years later, he was illustrating for the New Yorker. In 1928, Alajalov became an American citizen.

Saturday Evening Post, August 18, 1956

Alajalov was known for creating accurate-looking backgrounds for his paintings, as well as adding in details to a setting if he thought it would enhance a scene. The editors of the Saturday Evening Post noted that the artist would often draw doors or windows into scenes that were not originally there.

Saturday Evening Post, October 27, 1951

The artist's cover illustrations perfectly captured the whimsy and sentimentality of the American lifestyle in a thoughtful or sometimes humorous moment (at least for the reader, but not necessarily the subject.)

Saturday Evening Post, July 14, 1956

The expression of his subjects tells the reader exactly what the cover subject is thinking. He also customized the covers for the audience who would see them: there were big-city, sophisticated themes for the New Yorker and reminders of middle America for the Saturday Evening Post.

10/29/2014

Acclaimed illustrator Bernie Fuchs would have been 82 years old today. The artist only lived to be 76, but influenced mid-century illustration like few other artists have.

McCall's, July 1964

Fuchs was born in O'Fallon, Illinois, a city less than 30 minutes east of St. Louis. The artist would end up studying in St. Louis at Washington University's art school. Fuchs had enjoyed drawing during his childhood. However, he only considered a career in art after an accident in a machine shop caused the loss of three fingers, which ended his pursuit of playing jazz on the trumpet.

for I Love Galesburg In The Springtime, McCall's, April 1960

Fuchs would end up being a force to be reckoned with in the art world. After graduating, he worked in Detroit and found work drawing cars for magazines and billboards. Fuchs found his own style in car illustration by showing the vehicles admist everyday people in everyday situations -- not a glamorous couple just looking at a car. Sometimes, Fuchs even had people stand in front of the car, which up until then, was not done, since the car was supposed to be the main focus.

Oldsmobile advertisement, 1962

Fuchs' unique perspective on illustration, plus his modern, impressionistic-inspired style, caught the attention of art directors. Fuchs ended up with the lucrative Seagram's account in 1959, which had only recently been given to Austin Briggs. Briggs had finished his first painting for the client when he learned that Seagrams changed its mind and was giving the account to an unknown but talked-about new artist. Nevertheless, Fuchs and Briggs ended up being life-long friends.

Seagram's advertisement, 1959

At age 30, Fuchs was named the Artist Guild of New York's Artist of the Year. He was also the youngest artist to be inducted to the Society of Illustrator's Hall of Fame. The artist was also becoming one of the most imitated illustrators of his time, similar to the way Al Parker was always being copied. Fuchs' art was also repeatedly selected by Society of Illustrators' jurors as the best work of the year.

Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1976

Fuchs illustrated for most of the major magazines, including Look, McCall's, New Yorker,TV Guide, and Sports Illustrated. When Fuchs received his first Sports Illustrated assignment, he was told to make it different than his work for McCall's. This caused the artist to develop new innovations and styles.

Sports Illustrated, June 15, 1964

Fuchs typically photographed his subjects and then illustrated them in his studio. During his career he did actually meet President John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson, and Frank Sinatra.

TV Guide, May 14, 1966

He illustrated several pieces on Kennedy during the politican's presidency and after his assassination.

10/23/2014

Halloween is approaching -- so be prepared for the eerie and the spooky to come your way. You may get a strange sense of deja-vu during this next week of spookiness, but that's only natural since it is the week before Halloween.

Or perhaps it's that you've been looking at cover illustrations of 1960s gothic romance paperbacks. That would give you the deja-vu feeling as well.

During the 1950s, the paperback industry grew, offering other illustration opportunities besides advertisements and fiction illustrations for the magazine industry. In the 1960s, the gothic romance genre was extremely popular. There would be original stories released in paperback, needing an illustrated cover. Then popular stories would be rereleased, with a different cover.

illustration by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1965

Gothic romance covers had certain characteristics : a young lady in a long dress in front of a castle. Typically, but not always, the castle was on a hill. The castle often had a single light on, seen through a window typically at the top of the structure. If the lady's hair was not pinned up, it was blowing in the wind. There were usually some creepy-looking bare trees in the picture -- either by the castle or by the woman.

illustrations by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1960s, 1965

Lou Marchetti was a master at crafting the gothic romance cover. Born in Fondi, Italy in 1920, he came to the United States at a young age, attending high school in Long Island, New York. He studied at the Art Students League of New York for five years on scholarships.

illustrated by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1967

Marchetti created paperback covers for the main publishers: Dell, Lancer, Paperback Library, Popular Library, and Pocket. The genres he specialized in were gothic romance, pulp, crime, and juvenile deliquent. In addition to illustrating paperback covers, Marchetti created movie posters, television promotional pieces, and magazine illustration for Reader's Digest, Galaxy, and True.

illustrated by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1965

However, Marchetti is best known for his gothic romance covers, many of which are not signed. He has been credited with creating the motif of the lone lit window in the castle.

illustrated by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1966

Marchetti seldom painted from photographs or used live models, choosing instead to create the woman from his imagination. There is a definite "Marchetti look" to a gothic romance heroine - strong and determined, despite the sinister and spooky situation in which she find herself. Many other illustrators tried to copy this look for their own paperback covers.

illustrated by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1965

Often his heroines looked alike, even though they were drawn for different authors.

illustrated by Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1960s, 1968

There was a subset of the genre where the heroine in peril was a nurse visiting the castle. Marchetti also illustrated his nurses with his same signature look.

illustration by Lou Marchetti, for Lancer Books, 1966

Occasionally, a cover would deviate from the typical "castle on a hill" scene. Marchetti's artwork always captured the spooky mood and tense despiration of the scene whether inside or outside the castle.

illustratedby Lou Marchetti for Lancer Books, 1965

So stay on guard this Halloween week ... and stay away from gothic castles with a single light on.

Credits

The Lou Marchetti cover illustrations are from the Walt Reed Illustration Archive.

10/02/2014

Artist and illustrator C. Coles Phillips would have been 134 years old this October. He is best known for his "Fade Away Girl" illustrations.

ad for Oneida silverware by C. Coles Phillips, 1911

These women would wear clothes the same color as the image background, causing them to "fade away." The outline of the woman's shape could always be easily filled in by the viewer's imagination due to careful placement of shapes and patterns.

ad for Wamsutta, by Coles Phillips, Ladies' Home Journal, May 1924

Phillips conceived the idea for the fade-away technique when visiting a friend in a dimly-lit room. The friend was wearing a tuxedo and was playing a violin, but due to the lighting, Phillips could barely see him. However, the artist realized that due to the placement of the violin, the shine of his friend's shoes, and glimpses of his friend's white shirt, he could figure out his friend's outline.

Phillips got the chance to try out his idea in 1908. Life had decided to use color covers on a regular basis to increase sales. The magazine wanted to create a new image, and Phillips was asked to come up with a color cover illustration for the February 1908 issue. Phillips had only started freelancing for the magazine less than a year before, drawing black and white centerfold illustrations.

The Fade Away Girl was a success for Life and over the next four years, Phillips would draw 54 covers. He would later draw covers for Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, plus 16 additional covers for Life.

by C. Coles Phillips, Ladies' Home Journal, November 1911

The Fade Away Girl was always beautiful, but on Life covers, she was also portrayed as a beautiful woman being pursued by lots of men. These men were often drawn as tiny men that the Fade Away Girl could pick up by hand and discard at her whim.

by C. Coles Phillips, Life, August 24, 1911

This artistic success led to advertising clients also wanting the Fade Away look. Although Phillips was a cover artist, he saw no difference in painting for a magazine cover or painting for an advertisement. His clients included Oneida silverware, Luxite Hosiery, Holeproof Hosiery, Palmolive, Wamsatta linens, and Naiad Dress Shields.

ad for Naiad Dress Shields by C. Coles Phillips, Life, March 7, 1912

Phillips also expanded by creating Fade Away Men. Often these gentlemen were paired with a Fade Away Girl, especially in advertisements.

ad for Oneida Community Silver, by Coles Phillips, Ladies' Home Journal, November 1911

Occassionally, the men would be featured independently for advertisements for men's wear.

ad for Boston Garters, by C. Coles Phillips, Life, 1911

Although Phillips only lived to be 46 years old, his name and his artistic talent live on. His innovative technique would also used throughout the years by other renown artists, including Garrett Price, Coby Whitmore, and Bernie Fuchs.

08/26/2014

Tuesday, August 26 is National Dog Day. To celebrate, Modern Graphic History Library looks at one of magazine illustration's most famous dogs -- Butch the Cocker Spaniel.

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, June 23, 1945

Butch was the pet of artist Albert Staehle, who was famous for his animal illustrations. Butch came into Staehle's life after Saturday Evening Post art director Pete Martin contacted Staehle about drawing a cover. Staehle said he wanted to draw a black and white cocker and soon after found Butch at a local pet store. "He looked at me ; I looked at him, and we just knew we were meant for each other."

Butch helping Albert Staehle in the studio, unknown date

Butch debuted on the February 19, 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover, caught in the act of having just chewed up the war ration coupons. The cover was very popular -- readers wrote letters defending the puppy and some readers even sent in ration coupons.

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, February 19, 1944.

Butch was usually cooperative as a model in Staehle's studio, and there was always beef liver (Butch's favorite treat) to be used as incentive when needed. Staehle liked to draw his animal models in person, but sometimes he would use photographs. He would later marry the woman he hired to photograph some of the animals.

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, October 29, 1949

Staehle always would find homes for his animal models, even the chickens he bought from the kosher butcher. After working with a chicken for a week, he did not want to then just eat it, so he would find a farm or country home willing to keep it.

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, June 18, 1949

Many of the covers featured Butch either getting in trouble for chewing something or "borrowing" something that did not belong to him. Other covers just showed him in awkward but hilarious predicaments.

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, September 28, 1946

Butch would appear on 25 Saturday Evening Post covers and 30 American Weekly covers. He also became the mascot of the American Kennel Club and the U.S. Navy. In 1950, Butch was chosen as the official poster dog for National Dog Week, which ran September 24-30. In 1958, the toy company Steiff, made two versions of him -- one 17 cm tall (approximately 6.5 inches) and one 31 cm tall (slightly over 12 inches).

by Albert Staehle, American Weekly, February 19, 1956

Butch was not the only famous animal illustration created by Staehle in 1944. That same year, Staehle was asked to draw fire prevention posters featuring animals. He submitted posters with an owl, a squirrel, a chipmunk, and a bear. The campaign managers liked the bear poster, but thought it looked too naked without clothes, so Staehle redrew him wearing pants and a hat. In August 1944, Smokey Bear (later to be called Smokey the Bear) made his debut.

While Smokey might like the rain, Butch on the other hand was not so sure...

by Albert Staehle, Saturday Evening Post, April 24, 1948

Credits

All of the Butch illustrations and the photograph are from the Walt Reed Illustration Archive.

08/21/2014

Now that students are heading back to school, Modern Graphic History Library presents lessons from the correspondence course created by Al Parker for the Famous Artists School.

Parker was one of 12 artists that founded the Famous Artists School in 1948. The school was based in Westport, Connecticut, which was a popular location for artists to reside due to its proximity to the New York City art market.

The idea for the school came from Albert Dorne, a successful artist in both advertising and fiction illustration. Art students would ask Dorne for advice, and Dorne thought a correspondence school would be a way to help provide aspiring artists with top-rate instruction, no matter where they lived.

June 1966 advertisement on the back of Marvel Comics' Fantasy Masterpieces

After obtaining the support of Norman Rockwell, 10 other top artists, including Al Parker, were recruited as Founders. Each of the Founders created their own lessons and then trained and mentored art instructors to critique the assignments that the students mailed in for grading. There was also a course in Cartooning.

Students could select which artist they wanted to study for a two-year course for the cost of $300 plus the cost of art supplies. Students wanting to study realism could select Norman Rockwell or Stephan Dohanos. The lessons of AustinBriggs and Robert Fawcett included tutorials on drawing the human figure. Some lessons focused on the specializations of the artists: Peter Helck was known for drawing automobiles, John Atherton was famous for his rustic, rural scenes, while Harold von Schmidt and FredLueckens were experts at drawing the Wild West. Ben Stahl was a popular Saturday Evening Post illustrator and Jon Whitcomb was known for his glamourous illustrations for romance fiction.

And then there was Al Parker, who in 1948, was one the most popular artists of the day and admired by many other artists, including Norman Rockwell. Parker designed his lessons based on how he drew an illustration from start to finish. Parker would reference finished illustrations (printed in black and white in the lesson book) and provide insight on his thought process for that particular assignment. He would often provide sketches and photographs that were used in creating the final work.

sketch for Extra Woman, McCall's, July 1948

Lesson 1 was Reading the Story Manuscript. Parker describes his analysis of a humorous story for Ladies' Home Journal and how he set about to illustrate the story so the hero would appeal to the women readers.

Below is the original artwork.

from The Voice of Jerome Kildee, Ladies' Home Journal, January 1948

Lesson 3 was on Composition. For an illustration for the February 1947 Ladies' Home Journal, Parker deconstructs the tones of the image.

Below is the original artwork.

Ladies' Home Journal, February 1947

In another Composition example, Parker shows how a first attempt did not work partly due to the placement of objects in the scene.

Below is the way it appeared in Cosmopolitan.

from Honor Bright, Cosmopolitan, November 1948

Parker talks about using photographs in Lesson 5 : The Camera and the Illustrator.

Parker shows how to combine several photographs, since the models were not all available at the same time.

Below is how it was printed in McCall's.

from Extra Woman, McCall's, July 1948

Parker also shows an example of a model pose he selected that ended up not working with the composition.

Below is the final composition as it appeared in Ladies' Home Journal.

from Kinfolk, Ladies' Home Journal, November 1948

Eventually, individual lessons from each Founder were combined into one basic lesson. In 1981, the Famous Artists School was acquired by home study course publisher Cortina Learning International.

Credits

The images from the lesson pages are from the Al Parker Collection. The collection includes lesson plans from other school Founders in addition to Parker's lessons.

08/14/2014

This past weekend, illustrator Austin Briggs would have been 106. The transportation industry welcomed the artist into the world when he was born on August 9, 1908 in a private railway car on a siding in Humboldt, Minnesota. Since his father was an electrical engineer who installed telegraphic systems for the railroads, the family moved along with him. He started drawing at age 4 and filled the railroad car with his artwork. By age 12, the family had moved permanently to Detroit and Briggs soon had a scholarship for the Wicker Art School.

1955 Friskies advertisement from unknown publication

Ultimately it would be the transportation industry that would give Briggs his first illustration job -- but with automobiles instead of trains. After graduating high school, Briggs was an assistant to an illustrator for car advertisements for $35 a week. Briggs was skilled at drawing figures, so he would add in the people surrounding the car, but at a smaller than real-life scale, to enhance the car's proportions. However, once Briggs discovered that his employer was making $1000 per drawing, he left the job and began a freelance career with advertising illustration.

1960 Renault advertisement from unknown publication

Briggs eventually wanted to draw fiction illustration. His chance came in the mid 1920s with the weekly Michigan newspaper, Dearborn Independent. He later sent examples of his illustrations to Collier's and was encouraged by the magazine's art editor. That prompted Briggs to move to New York and enroll in the Art Students League. He drew for Collier's, McClure's, and Pictorial Review. Briggs had yet to develop his own personal style, so his work had yet to stand out from the other fiction illustrators. When magazines cut back during the Depression, Briggs was yet another expendable artist.

from A Star For Christmas, McCall's, December 1960

He ended up "ghost drawing" for artist Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" comic strip and illustrated for pulp magazines including Amazing Stories and Blue Book. The art director at Blue Book gave Briggs freedom to experiment with his drawings, and Briggs then developed his own style. This allowed him to get illustration assigments at Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Saturday Evening Post and advertising agencies.

from Bonus Rookie, Saturday Evening Post, August 12, 1950

Briggs was drawing at a time when magazine illustration was transitioning from representational, rendered art to a more modern, less-rendered conceptual style, as championed by artists such as Al Parker. Briggs' earlier work is more represenational.

from You're Only Young Once, Saturday Evening Post, April 6, 1946

During the 1950s, Briggs developed a unique modern, conceptual look, using minimal outlines and oversimplified details. Often these illustrations were black and white line drawings with occassional added color. This style would become so popular that it would be used by other artists throughout the decade.

from Love's A Sham, Saturday Evening Post, January 12, 1947

Briggs was always reinventing his style and experimenting with different techniques. He would alternate between his various illustration styles depending on the assignment.

Sports Illustrated cover, October 22, 1962

No matter which style he used for fiction illustration, his goal was the same -- to capture the emotional aspect of the scene, often in a slice-of-life moment.

from The Unexpected Warrior, Saturday Evening Post, June 1, 1946

Briggs saw his role as the stage designer for the scene. He saw fiction illustration not just an embellishment to the text, but a way to get the reader curious about what might happen in the story which would prompt further reading of the story.

from Who Sent The Duchess?, 1963, from unknown publication

Briggs would brainstorm his story illustrations with a series of sketches until he found an idea he liked, finding that often one in ten ideas might work. He later used friends, family, and neighbors to pose for photographed scebes to help him fill in details. For some assigments, such as a picture essay for Look, he would go on location and sketch.

from The Fast-Changing South, Look, November 16, 1965

He painted in a variety of mediums, including gouache, non-acryllic oil paint diluted with turpentine, which ended up looking like gouache, and pen and ink.

from Question, Mr. President!, This Week, December 8, 1963

Briggs would end up illustrating stories, essays, and covers for major magazines. His commercial illustrations included ads for telecommunications, dog food, coffee, and beer. One of his major clients was American Airlines.

American Airlines advertisement, January 15, 1949

Another major advertiser was Chevrolet. Turns out, Briggs never could get too far away the transportation industry.

07/02/2014

This weekend would have been expressionistic artist Robert Weaver's 90th birthday. In honor of this occasion, Modern Graphic History Library presents sketches which Weaver drew 55 years ago for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

CBS Television Network released annual promotional calendars entitled "A Television Notebook." Each week of the year would feature an illustration or photograph. Weaver drew for the 1960 calendar, featuring black and white sketches of behind-the-scenes production work.

sketch for June 6-12, 1960

During his visit at CBS, Weaver saw the production of television shows, advertisements, and on-location football coverage. He captured the details of all aspects of production and added handwritten captions to the bottom of each sketch.

sketch for January 11-17, 1960

Many of the calendar's sketches focus on a production of a western, including the actors, set design, and costuming.

sketch for September 26- October 2, 1960

Weaver was a pioneer of visual journalism. He believed the role of the illustrator should be an active one, and that illustrators had a journalistic responsibility. Weaver wanted his artwork to not only report information but to also allow others to experience it.

sketch for April 4-10, 1960

Weaver drew locations and situations as he saw them. If a piece of equipment was in front of a person's face, he illustrated the scene "as-is" and did not try to rearrange subjects or objects for an idealized version.

sketch for August 8-14, 1960

Weaver was influenced by the work of film directors Orson Wells, Roberto Rossellini, and Victorio De Sica, who showed there was drama in everyday, ordinary moments.

sketch for October 31 - November 6, 1960

CBS produced these artwork-filled promotional calendars throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The 1970 calendar featured black and white photography.

sketch for October 3-9, 1960

Other artists featured in CBS calendars include :

1955 -- René Bouché

1958 -- Carl Erickson

1963 -- Tomi Ungerer

1969 -- Daniel Schwartz

Examples of these artists' art can be found in the Walt Reed Illustration Archive.

06/18/2014

James Montgomery Flagg, one of the most versatile artists of the early-mid twentieth century, would have been 137 today. He was born in suburban Pelham Manor, New York (approximately 14 miles northeast of Manhattan) but was always interested in drawing urban life.

Sunday Magazine, December 18, 1910

By age 12, Flagg had sold his first illustration for $10 to St. Nicholas magazine. By age 14, he had become a regular staff member for Life, and two years later, was also on the staff of Life's rival, Judge.

Judge, November 27, 1920

Flagg was skilled at using many mediums, including watercolors, oils, pastels, charcoal, and pencil. A great amount of his work is in pen-and-ink. Flagg seldom used cross-hatching, which was the common technique used with pen-and-ink. Instead, he used carefully selected parallel lines to create his effects.

Collier's, April 25, 1931

Flagg believed that when creating fiction illustrations, the artist needed to truly understand the story and its characters before attempting to illustrate them. He stated "Good illustrating is far more than depicting a bit of action as described by the author."

Part 6 of the 8-part novella Double Indemnity, Liberty, 1936

For assignments for Cosmopolitan, Flagg illustrated the P.G. Wodehouse stories of English aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his talented valet, Jeeves. Flagg's depiction of Jeeves would become the prototype for that character.

Wooster and Jeeves, from Cosmopolitan, January 1934

The character prototype that Flagg is best remembered for is his depiction of Uncle Sam. According to legend, the Uncle Sam character started being used during the War of 1812, although was mentioned in original lyrics to Yankee Doodle during the Revolutionary War. Uncle Sam had always been depicted as a congenial, folksy, older man, but Flagg's stern and muscular version forever changed the way the character would be viewed.

Judge, June 8, 1918

Flagg's Uncle Sam originally started out as a July 1916 cover for Leslie's magazine. The magazine had wanted it for a 1914 cover, but Flagg kept refusing the assignment. There are differing accounts as to whom Flagg used as a model. According to Flagg's granddaughter, the artist found the perfect model one day riding on a train, which made him finally agree to draw the cover. However, by the time World War II began, Flagg was resembling his own creation and decided to use himself as the model to save on model fees.

U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force recruiting advertisement, Collier's, September 11, 1948

During World War I, Flagg was one of artists in the Division of Pictorial Publicty, to which the U.S. government sent requests for war propaganda and recruitment material. The government asked Flagg to use his Uncle Sam for an Army recruitment poster. The "I Want You" poster is one of the most recognizable war posters of all time, with 350,000 copies printed during World War I and approximately 400,000 copies printed during World War II. This is the work for which Flagg is most remembered.

U.S. Army recruitment poster, 1917

Uncle Sam made his appearance on numerous posters for the war effort, including recruitment, war stamps purchases, and morale building. Flagg also designed dramatic, eye-catching propaganda and recruitment posters without the iconic character. He designed 46 posters in all.

U.S. Navy recruitment poster, 1917

Flagg studied at various art schools for six "wasted" years, since he never felt the education assisted his artistic development. He ended up believing that artists were born to be artist and that art could not be taught. At one point, during his studies in London, he thought he wanted to be a portrait painter, but decided to return to illustration since there was more subject material.

Sunday Magazine, February 7, 1915

One of Flagg's favorite subjects was women. During the 1920s, Flagg was creating women with curves, which was against the trend of the time. His image of his ideal woman never changed throughout the years.

Judge, September 15, 1923

As magazines began to use more photography and more modern-style art, Flagg's style of illustration was no longer in demand. Flagg died three weeks before his 83rd birthday after living to see his career fade into obscurity.

James Montgomery Flagg's legacy can still be seen through several collections at Modern Graphic History Library: